JMJ
March 31, 2015
Holy Tuesday,
There is one disciple who betrayed Jesus. Judas Iscariot regretted what he had done and hung himself. There is one disciple who denied Jesus. Peter repented, shed many tears of remorse and went on to be the first Pope. Suicide is the ultimate act of cowardice and selfishness. It is murder of oneself. Assisted suicide is murder with more than one person involved. Obviously, one cannot undo the act. One faces his Creator in a state of mortal sin.
In the newspaper INDIAN LIFE, March - April 2015 Adalee Russell gives her personal testimony “My Story, Beauty for Ashes.” These are the actual words of the picture caption. “ My father didn’t want me. He told me so. He made me feel unloved and worthless. Later in my teen years things got worse: More chaos..my dad’s angry, drunken rampages. I spent so many nights huddled in the corner of my room, in the dark, in tears. Then on Sept.1, 2013, my dad pulled a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He killed himself, abandoning my mother, brothers and I , and hurtling us into a world of hurt and uncertainty.”
Note. Her father did many harmful things but the worse was that he killed himself. All members of his family are victims of the act. The pain will last a life time. If the story changed that her father went to a doctor and got help killing himself would that have been better? Of course not. Her family would have been betrayed and abandoned not only by the father but by the medical personnel and establishment of her country, by the educated elite, the law makers and the legal system.
A large extended family that I have known for decades have gone through many difficulties but by far the worse thing that has happened according to them was that a grandson killed himself. Similar situations are experienced by many families. How could the members of the Supreme Court, Trudeau Junior and others have escaped this reality?
How could Perry Bellgarde and other Professional Indians keep silent over such an obvious threat to native people? How could they have escaped the reality of families and communities already suffering from suicides and murders masking as suicides?
The very fact that the highest court in our country has tabled an opinion that suicide is acceptable and a positive choice will have already generated suicides and murders. If the Supreme Court says its okey why should a person in confusion and teetering on despair not take his life, or the life of another? The Sask. College of Physicians and Surgeons has added strength to suicidal acts and murder of others by treating the opinion as law.
Many sick and elderly people are already scared to go to a hospital or nursing home for fear that they will be killed. Their fears are legitimate and growing.
A public hearing that focuses on the pros and cons of assisted suicide will add fuel to this death fire. It makes the unthinkable, thinkable. Murder becomes a public debate, an academic discussion, a legitimate option. One needs a serious , expansive research and public hearings on how to curb the power and authority of the Supreme Court. It has become a clear and present danger to our democracy, our country, our inalienable rights and our lives. Gay
